1. Field of the Invention
An insulation stripping tool for flat cables includes a clamping device adapted to be clamped to a flat cable and to provide a linear guide edge for guiding a knife holder to accurately sever the outer insulation sheath of the cable in a transverse direction. Upon removal of the clamping device from the cable, the knife holder is inserted into a chamber contained in the clamping device with the knife edge protruding from the chamber, whereupon a curved side of the flat cable is inserted within first guide grooves contained in the clamping device, and the clamping device is displaced circumferentially of the cable to sever the curved cable side transversely of the cable. The curved cable side is then inserted into a second pair of grooves contained in the clamping device, and the knife holder is displaced longitudinally to sever the insulation sheath longitudinally of the cable.
2. Description of Related Art
Various proposals have been made in the prior art to strip the insulation from cables, as shown, for example, by the patents to Danter et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,601, Schmode et al U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,572,911 and 7,096,760, Wiebe et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,870, and Hetlund et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,895,836, among others.
A flat cable, as a rule, has several insulated conductors surrounded by an outer sheath of insulating material embedding the conductors along with their insulation. Owing to its configuration, the stripping of insulation from a flat cable is more difficult and complicated than for a round cable.
When making an electrical installation, it may be required to remove the outer sheath for a certain segment along the flat cable in order, for example, to make a branch connection To remove this segment of the sheath, one uses a knife in order to provide the sheath with two cuts that are apart from each other and that extend laterally with respect to the conductors. This method is rather laborious and also time consuming. Here is yet another disadvantage: The conductors and/or their insulation layers are relatively easily damaged. It is furthermore extremely difficult to remove the sheath to make a branch connection on an already-installed flat cable.
The present invention was developed to provide a stripping tool by means of which one can more easily remove a certain segment of the outer insulating sheath, especially also on an already-installed flat cable. Moreover, the idea is to make sure that the sheath will of course be cut through fully, but that the insulation covering of the conductors will not be damaged.